On Thursday, 19 February, the founder of the Studio Moderna Company shared with us his vision of the concept of integrated solutions. Mr Sandi Češko has, in his own words, always been a rebel, as he could never really come to terms with the things that were supposed to be taken for granted. He wanted to disassemble them, understand and make something better and different. Even today, this visionary spirit still pushes him forward.

For over thirteen years, Studio Moderna has been one of Slovenia’s leading companies in the field of direct marketing and in solving the customers’’ demands. Thanks to its unique infrastructure, it is the only such company present in no less than 20 markets of Central and Eastern Europe. And what is the key to this success? Češko says that he abides by the rule set by Leo Burnett, one of the greatest advertisers of all time: “What helps the people, helps the business” Or, as Češko paraphrases it: “Use common sense and solve the buyer’s problems.”

“Today, we live in a time marked by one of the greatest turning-points in the history of mankind. We are entering a new society and we still do not know exactly what it is going to be like. This is a time of a surplus of manufacturing capacities and products. And most people have enough of all goods,” Češko describes the current state of affairs. And how are we supposed to persuade people to buy a new product? “Today, the foundations of everything we know of are changing. We no longer own what we think we own. All of this passes on to our buyers and users,” Češko explains, adding: “Therefore, we must step off of our pedestal and speak directly to the buyer. We must think about one thing only – how to approach the buyers, how to understand them, integrate ourselves with them and make things easier for them.” These are ‘soft components’. According to Češko, what counts most today is knowledge, relations with one’s environment and the ability to merely play a certain role of ‘adviser’, that is, be an intermediary link of the process governed by the people. “At Studio Moderna, we have made a step into this direction,” Češko says.

Češko gave us a clear example of an integral solution, using a case of two toy dolls. One costs some fifty dollars, while the other will set us back 500 dollars, although the dolls are virtually the same. Why? Because we buy the first doll as just another product from some shelf, while we must ‘adopt’ the second one. The second doll is a part of a complete story that adds emotional value for the buyer and creates an integrated experience. “Experience, emotions, story,” these are the ‘soft’ elements that are key to today’s customers.

The vast amount of useful information and the relaxed atmosphere prevailing throughout Češko’s interesting sharing of his story and his thoughts have created yet another excellent evening, which ended as a pleasant social event, during which we were reflecting on all of the new things we had learned.